Tragic news, as Tim Hetherington (pictured at right, above) who was nominated for an Oscar for the excellent war documentary Restrepo with co-director Sebastian Junger, has reportedly been killed while documenting the rebel conflict in Libya. He and fellow photographer Chris Hondros were both killed in a mortar attack. Read More »

As the end of the year nears, Rotten Tomatoes have released the tallies for the best reviewed movies of 2010. I thought we’d compare the list with the other movie review compilation site Metacritic.

Both sites have their advantages. Rotten Tomatoes includes a larger sample of reviews, while Metacritic features a smaller more-selected grouping of film critics. Rotten Tomatoes calculates critic scores using a positive or negative score for each review. One movie could be 100% fresh with all the critics giving the movie a 7/10 grade. Metacritic attempts to gauge the score of each critic’s review (not just a positive or negative, but a number 0 to 100) averaged together, giving you a better indication of what the response is to any given film, and not just a percentage of positive reviews.

For example, How To Train Youyr Dragon is ranked #2 for the year on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98% fresh rating based on 146 reviews. But on Metacritic, Dragon has a 74% average with 33 reviews. Honestly, I like how Metacritic calculates the numbers, but their refusal to incorporate a larger sample of film critics puts them behind Rotten Tomatoes in my mind.

Hit the jump to find out what films ranked in the best reviewed films of the year.Read More »

This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry’s.

INCEPTION Inception sets the bar for summer blockbusters. The film is a technical marvel—a thrilling, fun and smart dose of cleverly integrated action and compelling sci-fi gimmicks. Those are aspects I was able to enjoy when I first saw and reviewed the film, but it wasn’t until a second viewing that I was truly able to appreciate the fascinatingly constructed filmmaking metaphor that Nolan had created. In Inception, a team of specialists (read: film crew) take their mark (read: the audience) on a journey, and attempt to surround them in a believable world, burying them deeper and deeper in a narrative in hopes that the emotional catharsis they experience will feel real. With its final moments, Inception seems to be championing the power of film: If the emotional catharsis you experienced felt real to you, does it matter if it’s actually real or not? It’s a poignant note to end a film on, but truthfully it isn’t fully earned, as Inception has no emotional catharsis of its own. The journey we’re meant to invest in is Cobb’s, but his psychological trauma with his wife, while interesting, doesn’t offer much to latch onto emotionally. Were the film not so cold and distant—and were there not such an onslaught of exposition to contend with—Inception might’ve been a masterpiece. As is, it’s still a damn fine piece of cinema, and a worthy addition to any film collection.Available on Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: DVD – Featurettes (“The Inception of Inception”, “The Japanese Castle: The Dream is Collapsing”, “Constructing Paradoxical Architecture – Designing the Staircase to Nowhere”, “The Freight Train – Constructing the Street-Faring Express Train”). Blu-ray – Includes everything on the DVD, as well as Extraction Mode, a Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious Documentary, an Inception: The Cobol Job Digital Motion Comic, Project Somnacin: Confidential Files (via BD-Live), a copy of the DVD, and a digital copy of the film.

Usually, when The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces their short list of documentaries eligible for the Best Documentary Oscar, a dark cloud comes over my day. Pretty regularly, some of my favorite films haven’t been eligible for a nomination. Shut Up and Sing, The September Issue and Dear Zachary all come to mind as heartbreaking snubs.

For 2010 the list is a little better, with films such as Exit Through The Gift Shop and Restrepo making the cut but, as usual, there are some notable snubs. Catfish isn’t on the list, nor are Babies, Oceans, Best Worst Movie, Freakinomics or Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, just to name a few. Is your favorite 2010 documentary eligible to be nominated an Oscar? Check out the list after the jump. Read More »

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?